I adore organization tools, productivity blogs, and pretty much anything that promises to help me balance my life as a parent, freelancer, budding entrepreneur, and owner of a zillion hobbies. But for some reason, up until last month, I never tried bullet journaling. I’d seen them everywhere online and thought they were beautiful. But I was so overwhelmed by the intricate, artistic journals I saw on Pinterest. But with the new year and the restart of a lot of projects, I decided to give bullet journaling a try. Here are my reflections after a month of beginning bullet journaling.

Last week I was tagged by the wonderful @carolineosbelto participate in her wonderful #splendidbloggers tag! I’m just getting back into serious blogging after a long time away, so I’m very excited to participate and interact with other bloggers! This is a little different from the other content on my blog, but still a lot of fun!

Earlier this week, I talked about all the things that were great about working from home. This time I’m looking at the other side of the coin. Like every situation in life, working from home can be good or bad. While I personally love it, there are parts that can get rough.

Even though the days are getting longer, February is just gray. The days are gray, the sky is gray, even what light there is is just gray. This month I found that most of what I’ve listened to was bittersweet and reflective. It matched the gray mood of the month.

So here is my Spotify playlist of some of my favorites from this month:

Working from home can be great. I did it for the first time when I was in my early twenties, doing contractor work part-time for a publishing company based out of the Berkshires. I eventually got laid off and went back to working outside the house until my son was born. Now, after a few false starts, I’m back to trying to launch a business working from home.

While it definitely has its disadvantages, working at home can be pretty awesome for a number of reasons.

Clutter can be overwhelming, especially if you’re so busy that you don’t have time to clean. Thankfully there are some simple tasks you can do in thirty seconds (or less!) that can make a major difference in decluttering your life. Here are twenty things you can quickly declutter in thirty seconds:

We all know that making coffee at home is one of the most popular frugal living tips. And it’s true, you can brew your own cup for pennies compared to buying it at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. But what they don’t tell you is how BORING homebrewed coffee can be if you don’t take the time to pretty it up a little. Sometimes having it black or adding a scoop of sugar and a splash of milk are all you need, but other times you crave a little more.

So in order to save you the guilt-ridden trip to Starbucks (though by all means, splurge sometimes!) here are a few ways to perk up your coffee from home.

( Note that this post includes affiliate links. You can read my affiliate policy HERE.)

I love to read. Even though I’m not working in libraries anymore, I always have at least one book going, write for book websites, and hope to eventually start my own book podcast. So I decided it would be fun to give you a snapshot of what my reading life looks like at this moment. So here are three titles I’m currently reading and three that are on deck.

(Please note that when it comes to books, I’m flaky as hell. So this will very likely change within thirty seconds of me posting this entry.)

We’ve reached a point with technology where the apps on someone’s phone can tell you as much about them as the books they have on their shelf. I’m constantly going through my phone’s apps, trying new ones and weeding out the ones that don’t work for me. I’ve reviewed and tested apps for various companies over the past few years, so between that and exploring a variety of hobbies, I’ve discovered which ones I consider my own must-have phone apps.

It’s only recently I’ve taken a real interest in makeup and personal care products. For a variety reasons I started going to malls again in 2017 and made a point of going to the Lush store whenever one was available. Going into the stores is such a heady experience with all the smells and colors. Over the past few months, it’s been really fun experimenting and seeing what products work best for my skin. So here are my thoughts on some of the products I’ve used and enjoyed.

(Note the links aren’t affiliate links. I’m not affiliated with Lush in any way, just a fan.)